Wednesday, July 20, 2011

A few days ago, Donna, at Funky Junk Interiors...come on you know her...sent out a request. She asked that her Facebook, and blogging friends go over to the new FOLK magazine page and LIKE the page so that she and one friend could win a free year's subscription to this new highly anticipated magazine.

Before I close this post, I want to ask you to please pray for Aden. He is a former student of mine, and he is having emergency surgery tonight for a brain hemorrhage or aneurysm. He's only 9 years old, and I teach with his mother. Our lives can change in an instant! Please pray!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

In God there are never any dead-ends, only detours. Don’t ever give up. Just keep trying until you succeed. -Joyce Meyers

So did they do a good job on my car or what?

God hands us detours in life. Sometimes the detour is simply an alarm clock that wakes us up late, thus making us rush. Sometimes, however, it is something that wakes us up to what is important, and brings to light how we react to certain events and others.

Having our car broken into was not at all in our plans of things to do while traveling to Maine. It happened, we can't change it, but we can control how we feel about it.

It's not that they took all my clothes and jewelry, or that they damaged my car, it can be fixed. It's not that they took my son's body wash, or my video camera that still had the shots of last year's Maine moose on it. What breaks my heart more than anything is the trust they took away from me. The person who did this did not need our things, they wanted to destroy. They saw us arrive at the Schenectady, New York, Holiday Inn,

and they decided to crush our world.

Well...not this time!

This detour has helped us to put things in perspective, it's helped to strengthen our faith and it has awakened a determination in us to not let the actions of others affect how we live. Others will not put a damper on things for us, they will not rain on our parade. In other words, others will not keep us from living and enjoying our lives. That's exactly what they were trying to do.

Again...not this time! Oh no! Not this time!

We traveled the rest of our trip looking like this...

We had a wonderful time, in spite of their attempt to destroy our fun.

We felt God's presence along the way, and knew He had a plan for us through it all.

Maybe He wanted to show us that we have too much, or to appreciate what we have more. Or maybe He just wants us to pray for others more...I've prayed for the thieves, but my whole heart was not in it...yet. So, I'm working on that.

I've tried to make jokes about it...

told my relatives and friends on Facebook that I was naked in Maine...

boy did that bring on the comments...

really stirred them up!

My relatives are a bunch of jokers...sarcastic humor is our specialty and they really brought it on.

So how about some pictures to show that the beauty of this trip far out weighed the ugliness?

View from the bridge in Wilmington, Vermont

The neatest Pergola I have ever seen...Wilmington, Vermont

Baptist Church in Wilmington...one Methodist standing on the porch.

Found my bridge again...Route 9, Keene, New Hampshire...I do love Rust!View from our cabin, on a lake surrounded by woods...doesn't get any better!

Covered bridge near North Conway, Maine. Discovered during a detour:-)

FEEDJIT

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are more powerful beyond measure. This is not an exact quote, but these words are something I hold on to...along with many Bible verses it reminds me that I should remember I am powerful...as a woman; as a mother; as a wife; as an artist, and as an ART TEACHER GIRL!

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Please give credit to More Powerful Beyond Measure should you use any content from my blog. I'm flattered and willing to share, but please make me aware so I can enjoy the honor. All content and photographs are the property of Vicki Andrews. All my artwork is copyrighted. Thank you for being courteous. Copyright 2009-2013